The present invention relates to robotic manipulators and, more particularly, to robotic manipulators operated relatively remote to the operator.
There is a recurring need for the capability of positioning selected items in selected locations interior to various kinds of entities, and often in situations in which those locations can't be seen, or can't be otherwise reached, or both, during such positioning. Such situations may arise in connection with locations occurring within complicated mechanisms or human or animal bodies, or behind protective barriers or the like.
Of course, in some of these situations there may be the possibility of partially disassembling or opening up the entity in the interior of which the desired item is to be placed. This is often inconvenient or expensive, or both, and leaves the other situations unremedied in which such disassembly or opening is not possible.
An alternative is the use of a robotic manipulator operable at some distance from the operator. One such mechanical manipulator meeting this desire comprises a base support, a manipulable support and a plurality of pivoting links therebetween. The pivoting links are rotatably coupled to both the base support so as to be arrayed by rotational axis thereabout and the manipulable support with a hinge between the rotatably connected ends of these pivoting links. In some embodiments, these components of such manipulators can be partially, or even completely, jointly formed of polymer materials in a common mold. Such systems can incorporate a variety of force imparting members to control movements of various ones of the pivoting links with as few as two being required. Pivoting links having such hinged portions provide a capability for controlling the separation between the base and manipulable supports though requiring an actuator for each pivoting link.
Force imparting members of various kinds can be used with such a robotic manipulator but are often bulky such as linear actuators, motor driven gear trains and the like. Such force imparting members cannot be near the robotic manipulator operating in an entity in which there is little room therein for that robotic manipulator and its operating apparatus if the point of entry into such an entity is relatively far from the location in which the desired item is to be positioned. The use of flexible but stiff wires at the outputs of such linear actuators is a possibility but any bending of them even in a sleeve greatly raises the friction should any subsequent rotation of them be desired. Thus some arrangement is needed, with these force imparting members such as linear actuators, that provides a separation distance between such a linear actuator and the robotic manipulator for those situations in which there is little room in the entity for the robot manipulator and its operating apparatus to maneuver in positioning the desired item without too greatly interfering with operation of the robotic manipulator.